The latest Twitter XSS (StalkDaily/Mikeyy) attack might be over (though the current fix from Twitter is still lame -- just try add some <> in your profile).<p>What concerns me more is the half-assed verdicts/advices/comments filling the various leading online media, which range from:<p><pre><code> * Don't visit StalkDaily.com, it will infect your Twitter/browser/computer. (TechCrunch, Marshable, etc)
* How to clean your infected Twitter account? Change your Twitter password! (eHow, etc)
* It only affects Windows. (TechCrunch comment)
</code></pre>
In an age where online media care only about time-to-market more than anything else (kindly reminds me of the recent financial industry... but I digress), what can we do to promote the truth?
I can tell you how to do it. I don't think it's that complex an answer. But first you have to understand the one caveat which is this: most people don’t want to hear the truth.<p>The current "Twitter Worm" story is a perfect example. The worm really doesn’t cause any damage. It doesn’t hurt anything. But you have all these terrifying claims coming out of the tech media.<p>Why?<p>Because people like a crisis. It gets their heart pumping a little faster and they vicariously make themselves a part of it by following the coverage. That’s why news agencies devote every moment they can during things like hurricanes. Because they know people will watch.<p>This exists in pretty much all things. Truth is complex and by its nature contains both sides of the story. While most people want to react to things as Good or Bad, Dangerous or Safe, and so on.<p>That said, promoting the truth to those who want to hear it is pretty simple. Just put up a web site, publish only when you know you’re being accurate, and wait. You’ll probably have to wait years for people to stumble upon your site but if you dedicate yourself to telling the truth and then do it consistently for a period of time you’ll eventually amass an audience.
If you figure out the answer to this, politicians, PR people, and journalists will be knocking down your door. Once misinformation is publicized, it is very hard to correct. This can only be assuaged by making the public, through education or experience, less naïve and more likely to seek out the truth.
maybe what's needed is a digg-style site that tracks headlines & the body of a news article, and rates the truth of said articles according to what the users vote.